Google Play Store Updated To Avoid Accidental Purchases

Similar to the iOS Store app, the Google Play Store will now ask you to provide with a password every time you make a purchase. Earlier, passwords were required only if the gap between the current purchase and previous purchase was more than 30 minutes. All the in-app as well as paid-app purchases will be covered by this update. But this will not be mandatory for the user. Google Play app will provide user with three options. The first one will be the one requesting password for each purchase. Option Two will be the one requesting password only if the gap between the current purchase and previous purchase was more than 30 minutes (as earlier) and the last option will disable any password protection.

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The password-protected buying, however, is not the only new feature. The update, i.e., Google Play Store version 4.6.16, will have a few cosmetic changes and the "Bulk Install" option. The settings and menu buttons have been relocated to the pull-out sidebar and the "Auto-add widgets" button has been renamed to "Add Icon To Homescreen", which seems more helpful.

The 'Bulk Install' option allows a user to install apps from the 'My Apps' section in bulk rather than one by one. This will particularly be useful if the user migrates to a new Android phone or in case of a factory reset or in case when a user has replaced the old ROM with a new one (especially for modders).

The update has come up a bit late, but is helpful nevertheless. Maybe, the reason behind the update was the lawsuit case against Google by a woman whose 5 year old child made in-app purchases worth $66 for a game. Thus the update may come as a relief for parents who allow their phones to be used by their toddlers. Apple was slapped with a fine of $32.5 Million and had to pay $ 5 Million to settle a similar case against it in January and fixed the issue in the iOS 7.1 update.

Like all the updates, this too won't be available to every Android user simultaneously. If not done already, expect your Android devices asking for a Play Store update in the next 2-3 days.